As much as I'm a fan of Masterchef in all its forms, this series of Celebrity Masterchef has, to me, dragged a wee bit. The standard of cooking has been pretty poor, but things are getting serious now - it's semi-final time and you can see everyone has got their game faces on. So did I. I haven't watched it for a week or so, so I was eager to see if things had progressed. I'd also forgotten that this was an hour long, so it was isotonic drinks a go-go.

Related: Our Masterchef section.

Apart from the semi-final stage I have no idea where we are in the competition (is it the second of three-programme semi-final), so it's best to dive right in.

The semi-finalists last night were Jayne Middlemiss, Ian Bleasedale, Iwan Thomas and Wendi Peters. To kick off the hour-long show they had to do the whole cooking in a proper restaurant thing, and this, to my mind, is the dullest part of the show - these little segments tend to follow a rubbish-at-the-start-decent-at-the-end sort of trend and last night's was no different. Iwan had the toughest chef (SEA BASS! NOW! OVER THERE!) and his first lesson was to chop an onion, but in a way he had never chopped an onion before.

Then they were back at Masterchef HQ to cook one dish inspired by their time in the restaurant. Ian did loin of rabbit and black pudding wrapped in ham, with prunes and Armagnac. Poor Ian, his dish looked like massive cliff of meat rising up from his plate, and Gregg and John found that the rabbit was not cooked. Schoolboy error.

Iwan, meanwhile, did cornfed chicken on the crown, mushroom risotto and a sauce Jacqueline. They liked it - everything was cooked and seasoned well.

Jayne, eager to prove that she could present nicely, did this very fancy-looking patridge with apple compote and pistachio mouse. They loved it. It looked elegant, and J and G loved the way the flavours contrasted. Good news for Jayne, who looked as though she might lose it at one stage over the pistachio mouse.

Finally, Wendi did a gorgeous looking prawn and lobster ravioli. Honestly, I would have lapped that up. And so did Gregg and John. Gregg, in his typical, descriptive way, said it was velvety, salty prawns and sweet-sweet lobster. When Wendi heard this she smiled like a schoolgirl. And that's what I love about Wendi - when she truly smiles she regresses into a smiley young girl. Brilliant.

Then it was off to Leeds Castle in, erm, Kent to cook for a load of posh people. There was a bit of a comedy Armageddon moment, when the four chefs walked around the castle grounds in slow motion. Ian was particularly amusing as he walked about shaking his head slowly and smiling in awe.

Anyway, more cooking... Ian had a bit of mare again (they didn't like his apple and horseradish sauce to go with his bony whiting), but everyone did pretty well. So on to tomorrow night's final semi-final programme, where the four cook for the critics. The best part of the series in my opinion.